Africa-Press – Gambia. A report published by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre has revealed a detailed breakdown of the number of Monkeypox cases in Cork and Kerry as it was revealed there is now 97 total cases of the disease in Ireland earlier this week.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) publishes reports on infectious diseases across the country, with Monkeypox added to the list of notifiable diseases in Ireland recently following concerns raised by the World Health Organisation about the spread of the disease across the world.According to their latest report – published on Wednesday August 4th – of the 97 cases recorded since the end of May this year – five cases have come from the Cork and Kerry region.
The HPSC produces weekly reports in relation to the disease outbreak , as Monkeypox has been classified notifiable disease, incidents detected must be reported to the local Director of Public Health by medical practitioners and laboratories which is then sent to the HPSC).
This week’s report revealed that 12 new cases were detected across Ireland.
It’s not clear from when these five cases were reported across Cork and Kerry as there are no individual breakdowns available in relation to regions that had reported cases over the last seven days.
Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the multi-country outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) – the highest level of alert that the WHO can confer.
As part of Ireland’s response to the disease, the HSE established a multidisciplinary incident management team who commenced activities to prepare for cases in Ireland.The HPSC said that Public Health teams are following up those who had close contact with cases while they were infectious, with public health risk assessments undertaken with close contacts who are being advised on what to do in the event that they become ill.
Monkeypox is an uncommon disease that is caused by infection with monkeypox virus. The virus is found in some animal populations in remote parts of Central and West Africa, and in the past has caused occasional limited outbreaks in local communities and travellers. The cases being reported across multiple countries currently are unusual because most of the cases do not have a link to travel to these parts of Africa.
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